ENTERTAINMENTBen Affleck Says 'Gone Girl' Director David Fincher Was Lying When He Claimed Actor Cost Movie $40 Million for Refusing to Wear Yankees Hat
Ben Affleck and David Fincher had some disputes on the set of 'Gone Girl' over a Yankees hat, though Affleck said it's been exaggerated.
Oct. 14 2026, Published 10:42 a.m. ET
Ben Affleck enjoyed working with David Fincher on 2014’s thriller Gone Girl, but he set the record straight on what he called Fincher’s tendency to exaggerate.
During an appearance on Joshua Horowitz’s podcast, "Happy Sad Confused," Horowitz brought up Fincher’s story from the DVD commentary that production shut down for four days over Affleck, a famously obsessed Red Sox fan, refusing to wear a Yankees hat.
'I Don't Know Why He Loves to Say S--- Like That'
Ben Affleck jokingly called David Fincher 'such a lying mother------.'
“What’s the truth on that Yankee hat story?” Horowitz asked.
The dad-of-three immediately laughed it off with the kind of frustrated sigh sometimes seen between old friends.
"He's such a lying mother------!” Affleck exclaimed. “That is such a f------ lie. I don't know why he loves to say s--- like that."
'I'll Make Ben Suffer for This for Many Years'
Ben Affleck is famous a Red Sox fan, which caused some friction on the set of 'Gone Girl.'
"I'm friends with him and I adore him and he'll f------ lie if he thinks it'll get a reaction," the father-of-three explained. "He's got a very sort of dark sense of humor and I know he thought, 'I'll make Ben suffer for this for many years.'"
Affleck, who famously feuded with foul-mouthed director buddy Kevin Smith for years, chalked it up to Fincher’s attitude.
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'It'll Be a Big Distraction If I'm Wearing a Yankees Hat'
Josh Horowitz pushed Ben Affleck on the 'Yankee hat story.'
"The truth is, I don't think anyone had ever said like no to him about anything,” Affleck shared. “In this airport scene, he was like, ‘Yeah, you’ll be wearing a Yankees hat.’”
Affleck objected, recalling, “It’ll be a big distraction if I ‘m wearing a Yankees hat.' And then he decided, no no no, it has to be a Yankees hat. It was probably all of 20 minutes, and eventually it was like, 'what about the Mets,' and I was like, 'sure, f--- it, you win.'"
From there, the story spiraled: “He's like 'Yeah, it cost us $40 million while Ben Affleck wouldn't wear the f------ hat.”
'We Can Keep Chasing Excellence as Hard as We Can'
Ben Affleck praised David Fincher's direction despite their differences.
Affleck went on to joke that there probably should have been more discussion along these lines about the film’s famous nude shower scene.
"I didn’t take that long arguing over whether to be naked in the movie!” he insisted. “I was like, 'So I'm what? I'm sorry. What? So hold on. What can we see here?' He's like, 'You're naked.'"
He did have praise for Fincher’s work overall: “I love David, I loved working for him. I really like people. The higher a standard someone held me to, the higher I did. And I loved it. I got addicted; we can keep chasing excellence as hard as we can.”
